Conventionally, there has been known a substrate processing apparatus that performs a predetermined substrate process, such as a cleaning process, to a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate, while transferring the substrate under a clean environment in which a clean air flow is formed.
The substrate processing apparatus includes, for example, a carry-in/out chamber where the substrate is carried in/out with respect to a carrier, a transfer chamber communicating with the carry-in/out chamber, and multiple substrate processing chambers arranged along the transfer chamber. Further, within the carry-in/out chamber and the transfer chamber, the clean air flow is formed by using a fan filter unit or the like (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
The substrate is transferred between the carrier and the substrate processing chambers by a substrate transfer device or the like provided within the transfer chamber while suppressing particles from adhering to the substrate under the clean environment.
Further, a delivery chamber is provided between the carry-in/out chamber and the transfer chamber and configured to enable the carry-in/out chamber and the transfer chamber to communicate with each other. Actually, the delivery chamber serves as a buffer region, and within the delivery chamber, there is provided a delivery table capable of supporting multiple substrates, which are taken out of the carrier by the substrate transfer device provided within the carry-in/out chamber, at the same time. The substrate transfer device within the transfer chamber transfers the substrates to the respective substrate processing chambers while taking out each substrate from the delivery table.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2011-119650